Brag time!

Managers Add Three Days to Shuttle Mission

Mission managers decided Sunday to extend the STS-118 mission by three days. The decision came after the successful operation of the new Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS).

The first power transfer unit (PTU) went up on this shuttle mission, and hubby was one of the design engineers on the project back when we were living in CA. Here's a link to an old article about it http://www.boeing. com/defense- space/space/ returntoflight/ vehicleupgrades/ sspts.html (he's the guy in the photo wearing the white lab smock "supervising" , LOL). And a link to a more recent article that came out after the units had been assembled by the contract company. http://www.eworldwire.com/pdf/16905.pdf The PTU is a huge safety advancement for shuttle/space station because it dramatically increases the amount of time the shuttle can remain docked without draining station's power supply. You can also do a search for "SSPTS". I don't often take the time to pat him on the back, but this is pretty cool stuff!